No. 6 Alabama Gymnastics Faces No. 1 Florida Friday at Home with a Share of the SEC Title on the Line

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The No. 6 Alabama gymnastics team hosts No. 1 Florida Friday night at 7:30 p.m. CT in Coleman Coliseum. In addition to being the final meet of the regular season for both teams, it will be Senior Night for the Crimson Tide, which will also be celebrating the 30^th anniversary of its 1991 NCAA Championship.

An Alabama win would be cause for another championship celebration, as the Tide would earn a share of the Southeastern Conference regular-season title. Florida, 7-0 in an SEC-only schedule, as already secured a share of the title, while Alabama, at 6-1, could earn a share by downing the nation's No. 1 team. This is just the fifth year that the SEC has recognized a regular-season champion. Prior to 2017, the SEC champion was solely crowned at the SEC Championships meet, instead of both a regular-season and 'tournament' title as it is now.

Head Coach Dana Duckworth Said

"It is always an honor to have the No. 1 team in the country come into your arena, because it only gets you that much more fired up. It is Senior Night and Alonza (Klopfer) and Lexi (Graber) have been vocal leaders, leaders by example and have put their whole heart into everything that they do to lead our team. I feel so blessed to be a part of the journey with them, and that we get to honor their beautiful careers. Last week was a great step for us to replace an away score with a bigger away score. Overall, the ladies did a great job with hitting for the most part, but still understanding that we are still not at our peak. That is an exciting place to be as we go into our final meet of the regular season."

Friday's Meet

The No. 6 Alabama Crimson Tide will finish out its regular season at home against the No. 1 Florida Gators
The meet will be broadcast live on SEC Network Alternate Channel Friday, March 5 at 7:30 p.m. CT
While the Gators have already earned a share of the SEC Regular Season Championship with a 7-0 record coming into Friday, a Crimson Tide win would give Alabama a share of the title as both teams would be 7-1 in conference competition and there is no tiebreaker for the regular-season crown
It will be the final regular-season meet for both the Gators and the Tide

Senior Night

The Crimson Tide will celebrate its senior class during Friday's meet vs. the Florida Gators
That class includes gymnasts Lexi Graber and Alonza Klopfer as well as manager Zan Jones and videographer Tristan Hallman
Hallman is in his second year with the Crimson Tide as the team videographer, and is from Northport, Ala.
A native of Tuscaloosa, Ala., Jones is in his fourth year as a member of the Crimson Tide's manager contingent
Alonza Klopfer is a three-year Scholastic All-American, member of the Alabama Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Executive Board and the 2020 SEC Gymnastics Community Service Team
Klopfer is also a three-year member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll who is pursuing a bachelor's degree in exercise science with a 3.8 grade point average for her career with the ultimate goal of attending veterinary school.
Lexi Graber is a three-year Scholastic All-American, NCAA Regional All-Around and Vault Champion, winner of an SEC Balance Beam title, an All-SEC honoree and a three-year member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll
Graber earned the David Patterson Work Ethic Award as a junior and is pursuing a degree in public relations with a 3.55 overall GPA

Alabama Celebrates 30th Anniversary of its 1991 NCAA Championship

In addition to Senior Night, Alabama is celebrating the 30th anniversary of it 1991 NCAA Championship
The theme of the 1991 NCAA Gymnastics Championships was "Stars Fall on Alabama" and nothing could have been closer to the truth as the host Crimson Tide used a slew of talented ladies on April 19, 1991, to keep the championship in Tuscaloosa
Alabama's 195.125 total set an NCAA Championship scoring record
The Tide outdistanced second-place Utah by three-quarters of a point, with Georgia in third followed by Oregon State, Penn State and Florida
Kim Masters, Gina Basile, Katherine Kelleher, Shea McFall, Dana Dobransky, Dee Foster and Kara Stilp all earned All-America honors
Tina Rinker, Keri Duley, Sheryl Dundas, and Marti Watson rounded out the Tide's hometown championship roster
The Crimson Tide has also celebrated the 10th anniversary of its 2011 NCAA title and the 25th anniversary of its 1996 NCAA title

Last Meet

Alabama defeated then No. 6 Arkansas on the road 197.325-197.000 on Feb. 26

The Tide's 197.325 was its highest road score of the season, and its second highest of the season overall
Luisa Blanco won the all-around for the third week in a row, scoring a 39.550
The Tide's 49.550 on the balance beam to close the meet was its highest on the apparatus since Jan. 20, 2017 at Missouri
The Tide had three gymnasts in the all-around, Luisa Blanco (39.550), Lexi Graber (39.400) and Shania Adams (39.350)
Mati Waligora posted two career-best scores, setting a new best with a 9.900 on the uneven bars and tying her career-high with a 9.925 on balance beam
The Tide had seven scores of 9.9-or-better against the Tigers -Blanco (9.900) on the vault, Waligora (9.900) and Makarri Doggette (9.900) on the uneven bars, Waligora (9.925), Blanco (9.925) and Graber (9.950) on the balance beam and Graber (9.900) on floor exercise

Up Next

After Friday's meet against the Gators, the Crimson Tide heads into the postseason, with the first two legs coming in-state
The Southeastern Conference Championships, originally slated to be held in New Orleans, have been moved to the Van Braun Center in Huntsville, Ala., and will be held March 20 with sessions starting at 2:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. CT
Both sessions of the SEC Championships will air on the SEC Network.
The NCAA Regional Championships will be held April 1-3 at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa
For more postseason details, check out RollTide.com

For all the latest information on Alabama gymnastics, follow @BamaGymnastics on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. All the latest information on Alabama Athletics can be found on @UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and Alabama Athletics on Facebook.

University of Alabama Athletics